I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to portable cleaning equipment, and more particularly to devices for cleaning floor covers, such as carpets.
II. Description of the Prior Art
The most usual and efficeint method of cleaning floor covers, particularly carpets, is to use water in conjunction with a cleaning agent, as opposed to using a dry cleaning agent. However, there are a number of problems inherent with the use of water when cleaning carpets. For example, if the water and cleaning agent are allowed to remain in the cleaned carpet for a period of time, there exists the risk of shrinkage, discoloration, mildew, and, depending upon the fabric of the carpet and the cleaning agent used, the further risk of chemical burns and color fading.
There are two basic types of known devices which use water and a cleaning agent for cleaning carpets. These devices are the scrubbing type devices which use scrub brushes and soap in solution with water, and the so-called "steam cleaner" type devices which in reality spray hot water under pressure and an emulsifying agent, not steam, on the carpet to be cleaned.
The known scrubbing type devices deposit soap and water onto the carpet and scrub brushes work the soap and water into the carpet fibers. These devices do not extract the water and soap from the carpet fibers, and not only subject the carpet fibers to the type of damage mentioned above, but, in addition, leave an oil film from the soap in the carpet hastening the resoiling of the carpet. Further, additional damage is caused to the carpet by the rubbing action of the scrub brush.
While the known "steam cleaning" or hot water spray cleaning devices do not utilize scrub brushes and a soap solution, thus eliminating some of the drawbacks of the above discussed scrubbing type devices, they do have a number of serious drawbacks. These devices do attempt to remove the water and cleaning agent used in cleaning from the carpet. However, due to their construction, they are unable to remove enough of the water and cleaning agent to leave the carpet essentially dry. Further practical problems with the "steam cleaning" devices are their extreme weight and bulk. This weight and bulk has a number of practical ramifications, only one of them being the expense of manufacture. Because of the extreme weight and bulk, and therefore expense, of these known hot water spray cleaning devices, they find their main use in commercial carpet cleaning businesses. Because these devices are so bulky and heavy, they must be transported from one job site to another job site by a truck, and require at least a crew of two men to load and unload them from the truck. In addition, they are comprised of a number of separate units, such as a holding tank for the water to be used in cleaning the carpet, which tank includes a heating device to heat the water and a pressurizing device to pressurize the water; a separate vacuum creating device to create a vacuum for extracting the water and cleaning solution from the carpet; a separate hand piece operatively associated with both the hot water tank and the vacuum creating means by external plumbing; and a separate holding tank operatively associated with the hand piece for holding the dirty water and cleaning solution extracted from the carpet by the hand piece, which holding tank must be manually emptied from time to time as it becomes full. In addition to being extremely heavy, all these separate components require a substantial amount of set-up time and break-down time, which time is commercially non-productive and therefore expensive.